State Senator Marty Golden, who was in Bay Ridge for the opening of a shared campaign office with fellow Republicans Rep. Michael Grimm and Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, said Democrats are overplaying their hand in repeatedly talking about the "feminine presence" event he canceled amid an outcry from critics.

The event is designed to teach women how to get jobs, but some of the promotional language, decribing proper means of comportment for women, seemed out of a distinctly less progressive era.

Golden said, "[New York State Senate Democratic Campaign Committee head Michael] Gianaris and his candidate can keep focusing on that for as long as they want. I hope they spend a whole lot of time on it because people want to hear about jobs, they want to hear about economic development, they want to hear about the future of this great city and state, they want to hear about education, they want to hear about transportation."

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Golden, a former councilman who has been in the State Senate since 2002, defended the concept of the event, calling it "a serious attempt to turn around and try to get some people have an opportunity for a job interview. It's done all the time."

He said, "Democrats decided" to make an issue out of it because "a couple of words were misspoken and inappropriate."